Anika Rahman, Americans for UNFPA on January 7, 2008 - 9:58am
At the dawn of a new year, women around the world still rely on crucial funds from UNFPA for health care and family planning. But our current administration continues to withhold the money.
A preventable, treatable injury sustained in childbirth, fistula is a “canary in the coal mine” — an indicator of failing health systems and an indicator of places where civil societies are deeply failing women and girls.
Obstetric fistula is not just a women's issue, and not just about the developing world. It is about our inability to prioritize people's lives and about legislation that restricts funding based on political battles. And it reflects a sense of complacency towards striving for social equality and progress.
Fistula is prevalent throughout the developing world and women are
susceptible to getting fistulas anywhere there is a breakdown in the health system. The images in this photo essay tell the story of women affected by obstetric fistula.
A senior public health official in Jamaica recently called for decriminalization and taxation of commercial sex work. Other government officials decried the proposal, but have few effective suggestions of their own.
Iowa Department of Public Health officials report that total cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis in the state reached record levels in 2007 -- with some major spikes among teen-age populations.
The increasing incidence of STD diagnoses in Minnesota is prompting lawmakers and public health departments to come up with strategies to address the emerging epidemic.
RH Reality Check is having some fun in the sun starting Saturday, June 28th and won't be publishing for the week. Check back on Monday, July 7th for brand new, exciting content!
This year's Bush administration denial of $40 million to UNFPA comes as no surprise. But buried in the statement lies the threat that other international family planning groups who work in China may also have their U.S. government funding cut.
Next month, the Parliament of India will vote on an amendment that could further stigmatize and violate the human rights of sex workers by criminalizing the purchase of sexual services in India.
A handful of states are totally free of any federal abstinence-only money and close to half of all states have turned down Title V ab-only grant money for the coming fiscal year. The ab-only industry barely defends itself anymore.
A leading figure in the Christian right anti-trafficking establishment, Linda Smith embodies the tensions between feminists and religious right activists working on this issue.
There appears to be movement in the Senate on PEPFAR. But because negotiators started from a position of weakness, the movement is mostly backwards. Scrap it until the new Congress, and learn from the mistakes.
Pact or no pact, public furor over the teen pregnancy spike in Gloucester, Massachusetts, reveals our profound discomfort with teens who decide, for whatever reason, that they want to have children.
Arguing that their petition to overturn Manila's ban on modern family planning services is an issue of "transcendental importance," Manila residents ask the Court of Appeals to hear their case.
On June 19, 2008, in the wake of decades of reports of vicious sexual violence in conflicts across the globe, the United Nations Security Council declared that it is time to act.
California state officials and HIV advocacy groups have teamed up to establish a Web site that focuses exclusively on the impact of HIV/AIDS and other health disparities on African-Americans.
When bigotry strikes women, the usual suspects don't object. William Saletan is only to happy to excuse pharmacists who would deny women emergency contraception.
The Eighth Circuit has lifted a preliminary injunction against a South Dakota law that requires doctors to inform patients seeking abortion care that that abortion would "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being."
Bush denies UNFPA funds for seventh straight year, Today is National HIV Testing Day, Good news in the fight against breast cancer, Conservapedia says conservatives don't get STDs.
In a new TV ad (watch), the Family Research Council distracts attention from a discussion of responsible parenting to inject the question of when life begins into the presidential debate. Stock up on contraception now, before it is too late.
